‘Light pollution is dimming power and beauty of the stars’

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Nigel Joslin, from Wigtownshire Astronomical Society, reaches for the starsTimes photographer, James Glossop

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The night sky seen in Galloway ForestTimes photographer, James Glossop

Mike Wade

Published at 12:01AM, September 29 2012

A leading astronomer has called for an end to light pollution to help
communities to reconnect with “a key part of our natural heritage” — the
night sky.

Marek Kukula said that many street lamps were badly designed, wasting a huge
proportion of their output simply because they shine upwards, not downwards.
The effect is widespread light pollution, diminishing the power and beauty
of the stars.

“So much street lighting is woefully inefficient,” said Dr Kukula, public
astronomer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. “About a third of the light
doesn’t go on to the street at all, it goes straight up